By Hugh and Claire Fraser

When I read the scriptures I see so much of God’s unfolding plan revealed in the form of multiple and repeated transitions. Could it even be that God’s plan for us is more about living in what is temporary and transitional than it is in establishing permanence and patterns?

Those are some my own thoughts over this past year as I have been processing a major vocational decision to declare myself a “Transitional Pastor”.

My own spiritual journey grew from seeds planted by faithful Pastors and lay people in the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Ontario, the same church in which my wife Claire was spiritually nurtured.

In the midst of my undergraduate time at Carleton University, God directed me into the mentorship and ministry of the “Navigators” and then “Campus Crusade for Christ”. After graduation, my first personal transition away from the place of my upbringing and my security came through a student ministry staff position in Calgary with Campus Crusade. That was 1977!

As is often the case, active ministry creates a need for more resources. This transition took me to Vancouver and a three year study period at Regent College/Carey Hall. I feasted on the excellent teaching and found an engaging ministry environment at First Baptist Church, Vancouver.

In a brief interval between Calgary and Vancouver, I returned to Ottawa to visit family in the spring of 1979. Through events too wonderful and miraculous to share here, I reconnected with Claire and offered her an engagement ring. Even though she was already wearing one from another guy, she accepted mine! We were married in 1980 and have lived happily ever after, sharpening each other for life and ministry and having lots of fun together.

Our first church ministry was an associate role at First Baptist Church in Kitimat, British Columbia. Kitimat was not the end of the world, but you could see the end of the world from there! We served, and were genuinely enriched in return by that awesome congregation for five years. In 1987 we transitioned to a Sole Pastor role at First Baptist Church in Lacombe Alberta.

The tenth year (1996) in central Alberta became a transition year. That year The Baptist Leadership Training School in Calgary, a denominational Bible/Leadership Training School was seeking an ‘Interim Director’ while they re-evaluated the ministry direction of the school and searched for a new permanent Director. The Denomination asked me to consider the role.

After having permanence in our lives, we realized that there was absolutely no security in a one year position, especially in light of uprooting three school-aged children. The decision challenged our faith as we decided to set aside permanence of location and income in order to discover at a different level, security in the Lord. In the midst of the move we instructed our children “not to make friends” in Calgary as this would only be a stopping off place “en route” to a future place of ministry….so we thought.

It is now 2005 and we are still living in that “one year” house we bought in 1996! In the mean-time, I have served as a “Transitional Pastor” for Crescent Heights Baptist Church, Calgary, Kitimat First Baptist Church (yes I went back for an 8 month term), Brownfield Baptist Church, Brownfield AB, Monterey Park Evangelical Free Church, Calgary, and most recently Altadore Baptist Church, Calgary. In the midst of that collection of term positions, I did serve in a permanent role on the staff of Grace Baptist Church, Calgary, for a three year period.

After evaluating this collection of engaging ministry experiences, reviewing my spiritual gifts, seeking counsel, and praying for clarity in God’s direction, Claire and I have come to conclude that Transitional Ministry is the vocation that God has been unfolding for us at this time.

Our plan now is for me to continue to build upon the equipping from the awesome foundational training offered by Outreach Canada and to trust that the Lord will successively open doors of ministry to churches in need of healing, sharpening and re-visioning in their transition times.

And so for us, the journey in impermanence continues!